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Volleyball17/08/2017

Future stars in for tough race at Boys' U19 World Championship

The coaches of the participating teams in the 2017 FIVB Boys' U19 World Championship

Riffa, Bahrain, August 17, 2017 – The future stars of men’s volleyball are in for a tough race in the 2017 FIVB Volleyball Boys’ U19 World Championship, which takes place in the Kingdom of Bahrain for the first time from August 18 to 27.

The Boys’ U19 World Championship enters its third consecutive edition with the biggest field of 20 teams. The age-group event has showcased a total of 20 participating teams since 2013 in Mexico.

“We expect a very difficult tournament with 20 of the best teams in the world,” Brazil coach Leonardo Alfonso Seixas de Carvalho said.

This edition promises an equally competitive race with titleholders Poland headlining as favourites.

“We try to play and give our best as always,” Poland coach Maciej Zendel said. “It will be a difficult journey but we will do everything to come up with a good performance in this tournament.”

Last edition’s runners-up Argentina will be on a mission to vindicate themselves in this year’s tournament.

“We are very happy to be here, as we have prepared for two years for this tournament,” Argentina coach Luis Testa said. “I can say it is a very big honour to be amongst the company of great coaches.”

Egypt, France and Iran consider the competition as a platform for the sport’s future stars.

“I hope I could mold the team to play at a high level,” Egypt coach Nehad Shehata said. “The matches will not be easy but I trust that my team can perform well.”

“It is a great competition to see the strongest players of tomorrow, while for our team, it will be an opportunity to pick up experience for the future,” France coach Slimane Belmadi added.

“I think that we can start seeing the future players of the sport in this generation,” Iran coach Reza Vakili Farjad said.

Japan coach Hiroshi Honda has a similar perspective but a more specific target for the team.

“We see this competition as a great opportunity to get started with preparations for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games,” Honda said.

Bahrain coach Yusuf Khalifa Alasbool has a daunting task to lead the host team in their second appearance in the tournament.

“I am happy because this is the first time we are participating in the Boys’ U19 World Championship since 1991,” Alasbool said. “I think we are ready to start the tournament.”

Brazil take on France in Pool B and Russia face Turkey in Pool C to open the Boys’ U19 World Championship at 13:00 local time, followed by match-ups between Cuba and Japan and Chile and Korea at 15:00. The matches at 17:00 feature matches of Puerto Rico and Tunisia in Pool A and Italy and Czech Republic in Pool D, followed by the encounters of hosts Bahrain and Egypt and Mexico and China at 19:00 at the Isa City Sports Hall.